With victory away at Getafe on Sunday night and Barcelona's slip-up at Granada on Saturday, Atlético Madrid have within their reach an historic La Liga title as well as a place in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Of the clubs that made it through the group stages of the Champions League, Atlético have made the most money from their transfer dealings over the past five years. Aided by last summer's sale of Radamel Falcao to Monaco for £52m, they have received £199m in transfer fees since the 2009-10 season and only spent £161m, resulting in a transfer deals profit of around £7.7m per season.

Only three other clubs in this year's last 16 have turned a profit exclusively from their transfer business since the summer of 2009, according to data from transfermarkt.co.uk. Milan have made £23.3m, Olympiakos have made £3.7m and Arsenal £0.8m.

Figures are rounded to nearest million.

The remaining 12 clubs have all made losses to varying degrees, with Manchester City losing £395m and PSG, Chelsea and Real Madrid all losing in excess of £300m.

These figures are calculated from the initial transfer fee and do not include any other payments that may have been paid over time as part of the deal. They also do not include the fees for loan deals, which can be quite steep as Atlético have been discovering with their loanee goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who is signed to Chelsea.

The 'galactico' philosophy employed by clubs such as Real Madrid – of using their financial muscle to buy the best players around – is often viewed as being necessary in order to ensure trophies. The Atlético Madrid model is proving to be an exception to this rule.

Over the past five seasons, the medal haul of Europe's two biggest spenders, Real (three) and Manchester City (four), have both been less than Atlético's (six). Both City and Real have spent around £530m on players in that time, meaning that they have paid £133m and £177m respectively per trophy. Atlético, on the other hand, have only spent £27m per trophy and, unlike Olympiakos whose figures are even better (£5.5m per trophy), they have done so against some of the best teams in Europe.

By factoring in the amount taken from player sales the comparison is even more stark. City and Madrid have lost £98m and £102m respectively for each trophy they have won, whereas Atlético Madrid have made £6.3m.

Of course the downside for clubs that employ a self-sustaining transfer policy is that it is likely that they will have to continue selling players to make ends meet. Borussia Dortmund have been an example of this in the past 18 months, powerless to stop some of their best players being poached by their rivals.